Apparatus for coating



Oct. 1,1935. I C a STRAUH 2,016,060

' I APPARATUS FOR COATING Filed Feb. 24,1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 1,1935. QB. STRAUCH APPARATUS FOR COATING 2 Shets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 24,1934 fi t: 4

Patented Oct. 1, 1935 PATENT OFFICE 2,016,060 APPARATUS FOR coA'rmoClause B. Strauch, New York, N. Y., assignor, by mcsne assignments, toF. J. Stokes Machine Company, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application February 24, 1934, Serial No. ll2,816

13 Claims.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for coating the innersurfaces of collapsible tubes or the like with liquefied hot petrolatumor similar substances.

An object of the invention is to provide a novel system whereby a singleoperator in about one minutes time may coat the interior of a gross ormore of tubes.

Another object is to provide a system for coating the tubes with apliable adherent sealing rnaterial which will not evaporate, requires noprevious treatment of the tubes, no solvents or drying, does not clogthe tube outlet, protects the contents from cork and other acids, aswell as alkalis and costs only about one-thirtieth that of othermaterials.

With the foregoing objects outlined and with other objects in view'whichwill appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in thenovel features hereinafter described in detail, illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims.

Fig. l is a vertical sectional view of a preferred form of theapparatus.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of one of the tubes andshowing means for coating the interior of the same through device introduced through. the top of the tube, which device plugs the lower end ofthe tube during the filling operation and provides for overflow ofcoating material. I

Fig. 3 is a similar view but showing the tube slightly lower relative tothe filling device to permit discharge of the coating materal throughthe lower end of the tube.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view on the line 3- 1 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view or" a modification in which the coatingmaterial is introduced through the bottom of the tube rather thanthrough its upper end.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing means to permit overflowwhen bottom iilling device is used.

able means such as a plate it which slides on the bottom of the tank andis provided with ports l5 corresponding in number to the spouts. Theplate may be moved by any suitable means. For instance, the operator maymanipulate the same 5 by a handle it that is pivotally mounted at ll andis connected at it to the plate.

The spouts feed the coating material into pipes l9, corresponding innumber to the spouts, and depending from a stationary shelf 26 that issupl0 ported in the casing. Each of these pipes is provided at its lowerend with a stopper 2!] having an inverted cone-shaped lower end 22. Nearthe. stopper each pipe has one or more ports 23 to allow the dischargeor the coating material.

is tray Ed has ports 25 corresponding in number to the pipes and. isdesigned to support empty collapsible tubes 26. The tray carries adepending funnel 2'5 and it is designed to be raised and lowered so asto bring the tubes 2% into such po- 20 sition that the stoppers ti closethe lower ends or" the tubes. Io permit elevating and lowering of thetray and funnel, they may be suspended on ropes it" which pass overpulleys fit that are rotatable on rigidly supported by the 25 casing.Weights ill carried by the ropes will function to raise the tray and tohold the same in elevated position. in this form. of the inven tion eachpipe is is provided with an overflow conduit that communicates with apassageway so 33 extending through. the plug 2 i. whereby during thefilling operation excess coating material will overflow into the funneland will thereby be prevented from flowing over the upper edge oi thetube it with which the stopper is associated. 35

Hot material discharged from the tubes passes from the funnel into asump 3d and is fed from the same by a pump 35, through a filter 3t and apipe Sl bacli into the supply tank ill.

As petrolatiun congeals at normal temperatures, means are provided tomaintain the same in fluid condition. This may take the form or" aplurality of burners 3t and 39 arranged at the lower end of the casingfor heating the sump and pump. Gases from these burners will flew upwardly as indicated by the arrows and some of them will be directed by abaiile it toward the tubes as and pipes 519.

In operation, let us assume that a gross of the tubes '26 is arranged inthe original box. If the bottom of the box is cut of? and the tubes areplaced on the elevator 2i while the latter is in' lowered position, thespouts ll of the tubes will enter the apertures 25 of the plate 24. Thenthe operator can raise the elevator to cause the plugs 55 or stoppers 2|to close the lower ends of the tubes and the weights 3! will hold theelevator in raised position. Now the handle l5 can be manipulated tofeed the fluid petrolatum through l5, l3, l9 and 23 into the tubes 26.Should the operator release too much coating material from the tank 12,the excess amount will overflow through 32 and 33. When the tubes havebeen filled to the desired height, the valve plate M is moved to closedposition and then the elevator is lowered so that the coating materialis discharged through the spouts of the tubes into the funnel 21 asindicated in Figs. 1 and 3.

After the tubes have been emptied, of course,

the operation may be repeated.

In the modification illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, the tubes are filledfrom below and this may be accomplished by extending the pipes 59athrough the elevator plate 24a so that the plate may slide up and downon the pipes. Each pipe will have a U-shape lower end lllb terminatingin a hollow plug 21a adapted to close the lower end of the tube 26a.Obviously, when coating material is passed through the pipe Mia it canbe used to fill the tube to a desired height, and then the elevator willbe raised so that the coating material will flow out of the lower end ofthe tube.

In this form of the invention, overflow may be taken care of by anupstanding conduit 32a which rises from the plug 2 la. A passageway 33ain the plug provides for discharge from the overflow tube and apassageway 23a permits the material to flow from the pipe I911 into thetube.

This coating system is especially adapted for coating with liquefied hotpetrolatum which will protect the metal surfaces of the collapsibletubes and allow a small amount of coating material to remain in thethreaded end of each tube coated. This is particularly important inconnection with dual tubes as it effectually prevents the contents ofone tube coming in contact with the contents of the other tube prior tothe same being expelled at the time of use.

Heretofore such tubes have been coated by spraying a single tube at atime and the spraying process is only applicable to large tubes. Fur

thermore, the spraying process makes double spraying necessary as asingle coat will not suffice. Moreover, as no lacquer has beensatisfactory in spraying, such system has been abandoned asunsatisfactory.

There is another system known as the vertical lacquer gusher with highpressure. This coats only a single tube at a time and the tubes have tobe turned about four times during drying to avoid formation of a ring.As no lacquer or varnish in the vertical lacquer gusher systemwithstands alkali, this system is unsatisfactory.

In the first portion of this specification, I have set forth theadvantages of the invention over the known systems and while I havedisclosed what I consider to be some preferred embodiments of theinvention in such manner that the same may be readily understood bythose skilled in the art, it is manifest that changes may be made in thedetails disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention asexpressed in the claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An apparatus for coating collapsible tubes or the like comprising asupply tank, means for feeding coating material from-the supply tank andterminating in a plug, a tube support movable up and down relatively tosaid plug and adapted to support a collapsible tube with its spout enddownwardly while the plug is closing the lower end of the tube, andmeans for controlling the flow of the coating material through saidmeans into the tube.

2. An apparatus for coating collapsible tubes or the like comprising asupply tank, means for feeding coating material from the supply tank andterminating in a plug, a tube support movable up and down relatively tosaid plug and adapted to support a collapsible tube with its spout enddownwardly while the plug is closing the lower end of the tube, andmeans for controlling the flow of the coating material through saidmeans into the tube, said plug having a conical face adapted to impingeagainst an annular internal surface of the tube.

15 3. An apparatus for coating collapsible tubes or the like comprisinga supply tank, means for feeding coating material from the supply tankand. terminating in a plug, a tube support movable up and downrelatively to said plug and adapted to support a collapsible tube withits spout end downwardly while the plug is closing the lower end of thetube, means for controlling the flow of the coating material throughsaid means into the tube, and means for preventing coating materialrising in the tube beyond a predetermined height,

4. An apparatus for coating collapsible tubes or the, like comprising asupply tank, means for feeding coating material from the supply tank andterminating in a plug, a tube support movable up and down relatively tosaid plug and adapted to support a collapsible tube with its spout enddownwardly while the plug is closing the lower end of the tube, meansfor controlling the flow of the coating material through said means intothe tube, a sump to receive coating material discharged from the tube,and means for transferring coating material from the sump to the supplytank. 4

5. An apparatus for coating collapsible tubes or the like comprising asupply tank, means for feeding coating material from the supply tank andterminating in a plug, a tube support movable up and down relatively tosaid plug and adapted to support a collapsible tube with its spout enddownwardly while the plug is closing the lower end of the tube, meansfor controlling the flow of the coating material through said means intothe tube, a sump to receive material discharged from the tube, meansincluding a. pump for forcing the coating material from the sump to thesupply tank, and means for heating the sump, pump and supply tank.

6. An apparatus for coating the interior of col- 0 lapsible tubes or thelike comprising a supply tank, means including a depending pipe forfeeding coating material from the tank to a tube, a plug carried by thepipe, an elevator adapted to support a collapsible tube in invertedposition while the plug closes the lower end of the latter, means forplacing the interior of the pipe in communication with the interior ofthe tube, and means for regulating the coating material fed through thepipe into the tube.

65 '7. An apparatus for coating the interior of collapsible tubes or thelike comprising a supply tank, means including a depending pipe forfeeding coating material from the tank to a tube, a plug carried by thepipe, an elevator adapted to support a collapsible tube in invertedposition while the plug closes the lower end of the latter, means forplacing the interior of the pipe in communicationwith the interior ofthe tube, means for regulating the coating material fed through 75 thepipe into the tube, and an overflow conduit associated with the pipe anddischarging through said plug.

8. An apparatus for coating the interior of collapsible tubes or thelikecomprising a supply tank for coating material, means for feeding thecoating material from the tank into a collapsible tube, said meansterminating in a hollow plug, an elevator adapted to support acollapsible tube in an inverted position, while the plug closes at thelower end of the tube and coating material is fed through the plug intothe tube, and means for regulating the amount of coating material fedfrom the supply tank.

9. An apparatus for coating the interior of collapsible tubes or thelike comprising a supply tank for coating material, means for feedingthe coating material from the tank into a collapsible tube, said meansterminating in a hollow plug, an elevator adapted to support acollapsible tube in inverted position while the plug closes the lowerend of the tube and coating material is fed through the plug into thetube, means for regulating the amount of coating material fed throughthe plug, and means for preventing coating material rising in the tubebeyond a predetermined height.

10. An apparatus for coating the interior of collapsible tubes or thelike comprising a supply tank having a plurality of depending spouts,means for controlling the flow of coating material from the supply tankthrough the spouts, pipes associated with the spouts for feeding thecoating material downwardly, plugs carried by the pipes, an elevatoradapted to support a plurality of the collapsible tubes while such plugsclose the spout ends of the tubes, means for feeding the material fromthe pipes into the tubes for filling the latter to a predeterminedheight, and a sump to receive coating material flowing from the tubeswhen the elevator is moved to unplug the tubes.

11. An apparatus for coating the interior of collapsible tubes or thelike comprising a supply tank having a plurality of depending spouts,means for controlling theflow of coating material from the supply tankthrough the spouts, pipes associated with the spouts for feeding thecoating material downwardly, plugs carried by the pipes, an elevatoradapted to support a plurality of the collapsible tubes while said plugsclose the spout ends of the tubes, means for feeding the material fromthe pipes into the tubes for filling the latter to a predeterminedheight, a sump to receive coating material flowing from the tubes whenthe elevator is moved to unplug the tubes, and means for feeding thecoating material from the sump to the supply tank.

12. An apparatus for coating the interior of collapsible tubes or thelike comprising a supply tank having a plurality of depending spouts,means for controlling the flow of coating material from the supply tankthrough the spouts, pipes associated with the spouts for feeding thecoating material downwardly, plugs carried by the pipes, an elevatoradapted to support a plurality of the collapsible tubes while said plugsclose the spout ends of the tubes, means for feeding the material fromthe pipes into the tubes for filling the latter to a predeterminedheight, a sump to receive coating material flowing from the tubes whenthe elevator is moved to unplug the tubes, means for feeding the coatingmaterial from the sump to the supply tank, a casing in which the supplytank, spouts, pipes, elevator, sump and last mentioned,

means are arranged, and means for heating the interior of the casing.

13. An apparatus for coating the interior of collapsible tubes or thelike comprising a supply tank having a plurality of depending spouts, adevice for controlling the flow of coating material from the supply tankthrough the spouts, means including pipes associated with the spouts forfeeding the coating material, plugs carried by the pipes, elevator meansadapted to support a plurality of collapsible tubes while said plugsclose the spout ends of the tubes, passageways for feeding the coatingmaterial from the pipes into the tubes for filling the latter to apredetermined height, and a sump to receive coating material flowingfrom the tubes when one of said means is moved relatively to the otherone of said means to unplug the tubes.

CLAUSS B. S'I'RAUCH.

